Burnout.

Burnout.

Sunny woke up sprawled out in her bed with an assortment of blankets weighing her down.

“Don’t try getting up.”

Harmony? What was she doing here? The last thing Sunny remembered was seeing red. The kind of vision one acquired when rage managed to sink its talons into them. Then she remembered the memory crystal, and the horrible truths it revealed. Sunny squeezed a handful of the bedding in her fist. Red started spotting her vision, fueling her spout of rage that hadn’t simmered in the slightest. Instead, the pot was ready to boil over.

Sunny tried sitting up.

“Mage! What did I just—”

Sunny screamed.

“Told you, idiot.”

Sunny plopped back on the bed. It felt like a million needles were jabbing into every section of her flesh. Moving her body, even a little, caused a domino effect of pain. “W-What happened?”

"Great, she can still move her mouth.” Harmony rolled her eyes.

A tall figure appeared on Sunny’s left. She shifted her gaze. “Mr E?”

Ervin looked down at her with a concerned frown. “What happened to you? Harmony ran to my office and told me that she found you passed out on the floor. I thought it was something I could help with, but I had to call Goodley to give you a proper work up. She had to leave to deal with other patients but she got your vitals under control before she left. There's a potion from her with your name on it." He pushed his hair out of his face, "You should’ve seen the look on her face when she saw you—she was whiter than a ghost."

"W-Why does it hurt when I move?"

"Goodley told me that your magic flared.” Ervin said.

Sunny frowned. Flared?

“It’s when a mage over does it with their magic.” Ervin rubbed at the bags under his eyes. It made Sunny wonder how long he and Harmony were waiting up for her. “We talked about this a little bit before, about how a mage’s core has a certain amount of magic, and how they can continue to increase that load with the proper training. But we’ve never talked about this. I didn’t think I would have to, it’s not something that’s meant to happen this early in your career.”

“Why not?”

“Because, solar flaring isn’t something you want to make a habit.” Ervin tried to explain, “It goes back to the basic tenets of magic. Our bodies are meant to hold our core—which holds our magical essence in its purest form. But when our bodies become weak, they don’t have the ability to keep holding in all that magic.”

“Oh, so my magic sorta leaked out?”

Harmony snorted. “More like, busted out.”

“Basically.” Ervin said, “That’s why you were glowing, your magic seeped into your bloodstream. But Goodley managed to get here in time, thank the Sages. She collected every trace of your magic and put it back in your core. All you need to do is give it time to heal back up.”

“Wait, can't she take it back out?” Sunny asked. “I felt—”

“No.”

“But—”

“No. I mean it. This isn't something to play with.”

“I don’t get what the big deal is, all you’ve been trying to teach me is transferring magic from one object to another. Didn’t my magic jump from my core to my blood? How is this any different than what you taught me? I’m living your lesson plan, you should be happy.”

“Your core cracked, Sunny.” Ervin’s voice sounded colder than the harshest winters in the North. Even his stare kept Sunny frozen. “You’re right, the most skilled mages shed their cores and have their magic leak into their blood. That’s called sage level. You’re nowhere near ready for that scenario.”

But it worked. The words threatened to spill from Sunny's mouth, but she bit her tongue.

Sunny wanted to tell him how exhilarating it felt to have all that power racing through her veins. Wanted to tell him how she casted a time-jump spell on herself. And how she moved at a speed that felt faster than lightning, while the world lagged behind her. But she knew he was right. Reaching her flare point shouldn’t make her feel like crap in the aftermath.

---

Tag List: @k--havok @writeblrsupport

characters will literally get a headache or nosebleed out of nowhere and be like "huh. weird. well it's probably nothing." girl, look around you. you're in a story. it's relevant to the plot.

Unsure.

“For what though? And why him?”

Harmony rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know yet.”

“How do we find out?”

“I don’t know, Sunny! Shit.” Harmony snapped, “I don’t know everything, okay? I know what you know. That’s where we are.”

Sunny knew she shouldn’t have, but in that moment she saw the little girl from the dream realm. The same one who strived for perfection. The kind of perfection she hoped would finally help her gain her mother’s approval. And knowing that the little girl—that Harmony—might never get it, made Sunny’s heart sink.

“Sorry.” Sunny whispered, eyes to the floor, “You don’t need to know everything. We’ll figure this out together.”

Maybe one day, she could look Harmony in the eyes and actually believe it.

Oh so ur a writer?? Prove it. Drop the last sentence of ur wip in the tags

I promise I’ll work on my wip today *wink*

Glad you liked it! Sunny and the others were on level 3 of a tournament they entered and things got a little hectic…so they had to go to the infirmary to get patched up. Sunny froze the head nurse so she and Harmony could sneak off to get some answers.

Answers.

Harmony took a staggering step back. “Did you just freeze her?”

“I did.” Sunny stared at her hand, not quite believing it herself.

“Mage!” Harmony whisper-shouted, “You can’t just freeze people!”

“You know she can’t hear you, right?”

Harmony glowered. “Why’d you even do that?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Sunny pulled Harmony by the elbow and led her down the infirmary halls. “C’mon, we only have five minutes before my spell breaks.” The mention of their time limit sped Harmony’s footsteps. Together they scoured the empty cots until they came across the twins in the back of the room. A tiny slice of light shined out from the split in the red curtain keeping them enclosed.

Through the split, Sunny could see Aiden and Axel resting in separate cots. Aiden’s face was gray. Like all the color had been drained from it along with his magic. His chapped lips were parted, as if a scream of terror clung to his tongue. And maybe there was one, trapped in his mouth. Sunny didn’t recall hearing a sound from him when Damien tried sucking his life away.

The springs in the cot next to Aiden’s squeaked. Sunny met Axel’s frightened eyes through the crack in the curtains. He grabbed a handful of the bedspread and pressed his back to the headboard. Those frantic eyes made him look like a cornered animal.

Harmony held her hands up. “Don’t worry, Zimmerman.”

Axel darted his eyes between the two of them as they stepped inside.

“We just wanna talk.”

Sunny closed the curtains behind them.

~~~~~

Tag List: @k–havok (let me know if you want to be removed)